The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission conducted its late January survey from Jan. 19-23 in the Delta, Arkansas River Valley and southwest corner of the state, and found fewer ducks than in 2025 and the long-term average counted from 2010-2025.
According to the survey results, AGFC Wildlife Management Division employees estimated 337,479 mallards in the Delta, 12,075 in the Arkansas River Valley and 8,030 in southwest Arkansas — 121,205 below the 2025 late January estimate and 343,211 below the long-term average.
Typically, mallards account for 55% of ducks in the Delta during the survey period; however, this year, they only made up 49% of the survey estimate. In the Arkansas River Valley, mallard counts made up only 47% of the total estimate, 14% lower than the long-term average. In southwest Arkansas, mallard counts were only 4% below the late January long-term average.
Total ducks were estimated at 694,286 in the Delta, 25,542 in the Arkansas River Valley and 19,365 in southwest Arkansas, nearly 100,000 fewer than in the 2025 late January survey and 503,937 below the long-term average.
Overall duck numbers were 54% below the long-term average in the Arkansas River Valley and 21% below average in southwest Arkansas.
There were additionally an estimated 1,478,989 light (lesser snow and Ross’s) geese and 246,472 greater white-fronted geese counted in the Delta.
Due to a severe winter storm, AGFC surveyors were unable to fly the Little River Ditches zone.
The late January survey followed the AGFC’s midwinter survey taken Jan. 5-13, when biologists estimated 334,110 mallards and 544,705 total ducks in the Delta, 117,908 mallards and 137,386 ducks below the 2025 midwinter estimate.
According to the AGFC, the most recent duck season was the third driest on record in northeast Arkansas and the 22nd driest in the southeast corner of the state; 99% of the state was experiencing moderate to exceptional drought conditions in January.
